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Battle of Halfith
The '''Battle of Halfith '''was fought in the year 332 AE, near Dailin Castle in present-day Hakkon territory. The Hakkon army of King Hakkon IV was defeated by a combined force of the Westerly League: a larger contingent of the Kingdom of Tolrania led by Field Marshal Dacien, and a smaller contingent of Elintoran archers under the command of Duke Valthaauuionnon. Prelude Since the first arrival of their armada on Perisnoan soil in the year 330, the Hakkon Empire had rapidly expanded eastward into relatively uninhabited territory, settling new towns and villages along the way. Where they did meet resistance, for example when they encountered small settlements of Draharans around the lake by modern day Arish, they did not hesitate to bring down the full force of their armies to continue their conquest. By the year 332, their empire spread from the western shores on which they initially landed to the western edge of the Draharan desert, where they began to encounted more fierce resistance from the tribes. King Hakkon IV knew at this point that the ex-Hakkons that now called themselves Tolranians had settled north of the current territory of the Empire, and also knew vaguely of the elves that inhabited the forested lands to the northwest. Confident that any force the Tolranians would be able to muster would be significantly outnumbered and outmatched by the Hakkon army, Hakkon IV decided it was time to march north. The Tolranians were not to be caught off guard however. Since the initial Hakkon landing in 330, the Tolranians had been warily preparing for what they knew would be an inevitable conflict with their past bretheren. In the year 331, the Kingdom of Tolrania signed a defensive pact with the Elintoran elves in which each nation agreed to come to the aid of the other in case of attack, thus creating the short-lived Westerly League. Armies The Hakkon army of around 2,400 men consisted of: 1,500 infantry, 500 crossbowmen, and 400 cavalry. The infantry force consisted of a mix of spearmen and footmen, but Hakkon IV had notably brought a large force of around 500 elite Hakkon Legionnaires to the battle. Hakkon IV did not choose to bring a significantly powerful ranged contingent, choosing mainly Hakkon Crossbowmen, which would prove to be a fatal flaw later in the battle. The cavalry detachment was comprised of many lancers and a few of the king's own Hakkon Imperial Bodyguard. The Westerly league army of around 1,500 men consisted of: 700 infantry, 700 archers, and 100 cavalry. The infantry cohort of Tolranians was mainly comprised of mid-tier footmen designed to act as a holding force for the more elite ranged force of Tolranian Archers and Elintoran Rangers. The small cavalry wing of Tolranians was exclusively horse archers, and was not designed to confront the Hakkon cavalry head-on. Battle The Hakkon army began its march northward from the capital, Amarna, at sunrise. Soon after the troops started moving, Tolranian scouts and spies rushed back to the kingdom to relay the news to Field Marshal Dacien. Immediately, Dacien mobilized his army that had been on standby with a small elven contingent at Cournin Castle, and headed for the Halfith mountain pass where he planned to cut off the Hakkon force. Initial contact By noon, Dacien and Valthaauuionnon had arrived at the top of the pass. They kept their army hidden below the ridgeline, only allowing scouts to move forward to look for the incoming Hakkon army. Sure enough, just a few miles south the army was spotted marching in formation, headed straight for the Westerly League's army. Just over an hour later, the large Hakkon army was within earshot of the League forces, and Dacien decided it was time to spring the assault. His army crested the ridge and he ordered the infantry to charge downhill at the Hakkons, while the archers and horse archers provided supporting fire along with Valthaauuionnon's Rangers. The Hakkons, who had to quickly scramble to receive the surprise attack, took great initial casualties from the downhill charge of Tolranians. Quickly however, the overwhelming numerical advantage pushed the fight to a more even standing. Ranged skirmish Aware of how greatly outnumbered his infantry force was, Dacien instead turned to Valthaauuionnon and his archers to help swing the tide of battle in their favor. He noticed that the Hakkon ranged contingent was significantly smaller than the rest of the army, and that he had very skilled archers under his joint command. He ordered his archers to focus down the Hakkon crossbowmen, and soon wave after wave of accurate fire began to rain down across the battlefield. In no time at all, the enemy crossbowmen lay dead or wounded at the back of the battlefield, with only about 20% casualties for his own skirmishers. Hakkon cavalry charge Unsettled by the damage dealt by the League archers to his own ranged troops, King Hakkon IV hastily ordered a charge of his lancers to punch a hole through the stubborn cohort of Tolranian infantry. At this point in the battle, few of his own infantrymen had fallen, but the defensive tactics employed by the Tolranians had made it difficult for even the Legionnaires to cut them down quickly. The lancers were about halfway to the Tolranian flank when Field Marshal Dacien ordered his own small force of horse archers to draw the lancers towards them. Not wanting to be flanked themselves, the lancers diverted course and chased down the horse archers, who turned towards the back of the battlefield where the League rangers stood ready to fire. Valthaauuionnon gave the order, and suddenly swift volleys of arrows flew towards the lancers from both the foot and horse archers. The lancers, lacking strong shields, were utterly annhilated. Hakkon rout Upon the destruction of the Hakkon ranged and cavalry forces, the Tolranian and Elintoran archers were free to focus their fire on the Hakkon infantry. Although a significant number of Tolranians had fallen, they still held out long enough to allow the Elintoran Rangers to begin shooting deadly volley after deadly volley into the main body of Hakkon infantry. At this point, the Hakkon infantry's morale was all but crushed by the losses they had seen around them, and when their comrades began falling next to them with arrows through their eyes, the shaken morale turned to an all-out rout. The few troops that were left, along with Hakkon IV and his bodyguard, fled south back towards Hakkon territory. Aftermath The Battle of Halfith represented one of the only times Elintor allied with another Perisnoan kingdom in a military conflict. Thanks to their isolationist nature, the Hakkon army severely underestimated the impact that the Elintoran elves would have on the battle, and as a result their northern expansion effort was stopped in its tracks. As the last significant Hakkon expansion effort, this battle marked the end of the Great Hakkon Invasion. Although the Hakkon army was defeated, they still maintained a large number of troops throuout their Empire. Therefore, Hakkon IV knew he did not risk losing any territory after this defeat. Even still, he faced harsh criticism when he returned home from the Hakkon people and nobles for failing to defeat the hated Tolranians and conquer their land. Upon returning to Elintor, Duke Valthaauuionnon was promoted to Archduke for his skillful direction of the archer force, including of Elintor's own ranger troops. Field Marshal Dacien was hailed as a hero and a savior by all of Tolrania, and as a reward for his actions, King Calarin conferred Cournin Castle and all its lands on him and presented him with the finest suit of armor to ever come out of Leuven's royal smithy. Category:Battles